Tags: spider, Ship of Fools, shipmeet, home
Date: 05 December 2005 12:15:54
It's been a weekend of logistical interestingness (yes, that is a word. I made it up). Friday night saw Emma coming to stay, shortly after I'd picked up my keys to the new place (woo hoo!). Saturday I had an early start, packing up my stuff to take from East Kilbride to the Stately Pile. Which I did. I jokingly asked them to pray for a parking space outside the flat for me (because of course God always provides parking spaces when you ask). There wasn't one, I had to park quite a way away, but after a couple of traipses up the street with cases and boxes the people parked outside my flat drove off, so I'm afraid I was very naughty and reversed the wrong way down the one-way street to nab it. Phew, just as I was thinking I was obviously not a good enough Christian, God came up with the parking space after all. (yeah, right)
Then off to Bluu for the Christmas ship meet. I was the first to arrive, and while buying my drink I noticed one of my students working behind the bar. Which was fine, except that I was really worried that people would all be mad and internet-persona-ish and make me look silly, but thankfully everyone was very well behaved :) It was great to meet aj who was over from Tasmania, and all in all I think a good time was had by all. The food was great (the veggie option was anyway) and plentiful, and I'd definitely go there again.
Back to EK afterwards to be sociable, and then on Sunday I had to head back to the Stately Pile by bus (once I'd been given that parking space by the Lord I wasn't going to give it up just yet!). At the shipmeet I'd had quite a lot of wine, but still felt remarkably sober and had no problems walking in a straight line, but on Sunday lunchtime I had *one* Tia Maria TimTam which obviously went straight to my head as I managed to fall over whilst crossing the road on the way to the bus station. Of course, being just outside the shopping centre on a Sunday in December I (as usual when I do this) had a huge audience, and I'm now sporting some pretty impressive bruises on both legs. I also, very embarrassingly, have a scabby knee. I'm 30 years too old to have scabby knees!
From the Stately Pile I then returned by car to EK via Homebase and Sainsburys to pick up supplies, then got the rest of my stuff from the flat in EK to take back to the Stately Pile. Once in I briefly met my upstairs neighbour (who gave me a very weird handshake, alarmingly) and then shut the door and started to properly explore. Here's what I've discovered:
* It's bloody freezing. The boiler is ancient, and has only two settings: on and off. No timer. So this morning when I woke up I had to get up in order to switch the heating and hot water on, and it won't be switched on again until I get home late this evening. So I think I'm going to have to get used to the bracing atmosphere till I can get the boiler replaced with one with a timer.
* The only way I can open the windows is to stand on a stepladder, as it's only the tiny bit at the top of the window that can open, and my windows are very tall (this being a typical tenement flat with high ceilings).
* The decorating has all been done by Bodgeit, Buggerit and Co. So I'm going to have to do probably more than I'd originally thought. Which will be fun, but I'll need another few hours added on to every day to get everything else sorted out.
* Very irritatingly, the bath hasn't got a plug. It did have once, but now it hasn't. I discovered this after I decided that a bath would be just the thing to get me warm whilst I waited for the heating to crank up. So I had to make do with a shower. I didn't really want to use the shower that much because my bathroom doesn't have any blinds, which means that whenever I shower I feel like I'm going "LOOK AT ME!" to my neighbours. So there's something else for the to-do list.
* There is at least one spider in my bathroom. Unfortunately, my spider hoover-upper is in storage, so he has a temporary reprieve.
* My council tax is ever so high - much higher than my (larger, higher band) former property in London. Fortunately I'm exempt, but when I stop being a student I'm going to really notice that. Ouch.
* I may be about to have an argument with a plumber. Last week a plumber (recommended by the damp people, who are coming tomorrow) gave me a quote to put my bathroom suite in once the builders have finished, and told me to give him a few days' notice and he'd sort it out. Today he did that teeth-sucking thing that plumbers do, told me there's no way he can do it this week, and that as it's after damp work that usually means pipes are damaged, so I think that's a prelude to giving me a higher price (despite the fact that I'd already told him it was going to be after damp work). I'm not happy, particularly as on the basis of our original conversation I hadn't bothered to look for alternative plumbers, so everyone else will also be busy in the run-up to Christmas, and so I will probably have to spend longer than I thought without a bathroom. Gah.
I also need to get going with the febreeze. The whole flat stinks of stale cigarettes. Yuck.
But it's still mine :) :) :)